Idle, lost information of no consequence in an extremely closed system.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Things I Don't Get - II

So I still don’t get too many things. A friend under the influence of much too much cheap wine and The Simpsons’ reruns once told me, “You can either be happy or you can be intelligent.” Apparently, I’m happier now. Either that, or I’m sleepwalking my way to work everyday.

This city isn’t making any sense to me. Not the culture, not the intolerance, not the fact that everyone knows the directions to everywhere. And worse still, some more things I don’t get.

I don’t get the meaning of “Ya?”

So… what part of speech really is this? Who the hell ever thought this was a cool way to figure out if people were really listening?

“So, I was trying to crap, ya?”

Why it this a question? How the fuck do I know?!

I’ve had full blown conversations with this woman who says it like it’s a comma. And a full stop. And a capital. And the three dot thingy, the “…”. Not to forget the long 'yaaaaaaa…' when she’s trying to figure out what to say next. Honest to God, every time she asks/tells/demands a response, I have no clue what to say. So I finally gave in till we sounded like two ducks in a pond you threw popcorn at.

“Dad wasn’t gonna hear me out, ya?”“Ya.”“So I told him to just let me live my life, ya?”“Ya.”“So.. yaaaaaaaaah!”“Ya.”“Ya?”“Ya.”“What are you yaaahing about?”“I dunno, do ya?”“Yeah.”"Ya?"

She doesn’t get me either, these days.

I don’t get music in lifts.

Really, I appreciate your concern. But I am NOT GOING TO KILL MYSELF OUT OF BOREDOM in those 15 seconds in the lift. What is with that?! And why, WHY Kenny G? Why polyphonic phone ring tones? And why, of all, the tune of BHAJANS????

I can imagine hoteliers supervising their restaurants being designed. They turn to their architects and interior designers and in that one moment of utmost malice and vengeance for all the soon to be broken glasses, the returned too salty-too old-this is not what I ordered dishes, the unflushed floaters on antibacterial crap-pots (another thing I don’t get, but will not bother talking about) smiling villainously and going, “Make the lift out of glass. Thin glass. Make it move sloooooow. And get my Anup Jalota tape from the car.”

I remember this ad that showed up in Bangalore a couple of years ago. It was like the copywriter found his inspiration in a Preeti Sagar’s Jargon Soup for a Chicken’s Soul.It went thus.

“Imagine!

The apple of your eye…Your home…. Being eaten like a MOTH.. Called GEYSER!”No! NEVER!”

And this was an ad for a solar heater. More shocking, this was an AD.

So maybe he didn’t put those idioms to good use. But why do people use idioms to talk to one another? I get it if you’re writing it, that’s a disease I too, have. But why when you’re TALKING??? Language evolved to communicate simple things.Burp means “Thank you, that was delicious.”A fart means “I’m comfortable around you.”

I actually happen to think that 'ya' is a very good proposition for conversation with people you cannot quite place on your rooster of already accepted relationships.So in order to get comfortable without getting too comfortable, or to get familiar without giving yourself away,there can be nothing more handy than the good ol, "See, it's like this ya".Ya?

wow, totally charmed by reading that. i think your problem with ya is a result of a misinterpretation. you assume a silent "h" at the end, while it is actually "r". yes, "yaa" is short for "yaar" not "yah", which is more of an affirmation or something. people say yaa instead of yaar because americans roll their Rs.

i agree with the idioms part for the most part, but there are exceptions, when you cant escape using them. in a moment of passion i once said to a girl "youre a tandoori chicken on a plate and im hungry" because there was no better way to express my feelings.